Trophy Hunters – 2022 Recap

2022 is really coming to an end, huh? I’d love to sit here and say I managed to accomplish everything I set out to, but…things didn’t exactly happen that way. Looking at back at this past year, however, I can remain satisfied in what I was able to achieve – of course, I’m talking about gathering more PlayStation trophies. PLOT TWIST: I’m also being joined by fellow trophy hunters and blog friends – Solarayo and GamingDiaries, who have graciously agreed to take part in today’s year-end trophy post and write up their own respective recollections from this past year(links above). So…let’s fucking go!

First Trophy of 2022

First Weapon(Donuts ‘n’ Justice) – One of the very first memories made in 2022 involved some trophy collecting as my wife and I spent New Year’s Day relaxing at home with loads of snacks and video games. One of the games we decided to play together was the short, retro-inspired indie game – Donuts ‘n’ Justice. It only took about an hour or so to complete the entire game and collect all the trophies for an easy platinum. Only one day into 2022 and I was already off to a decent start…surely that momentum would continue throughout the year, right?

Most Recent Trophy

Pontiff Sulyvahn(Dark Souls 3) – The most recent trophy I unlocked was for defeating Pontiff Sulyvahn in Dark Souls 3. Shortly after arriving in the wintery, picturesque city of Irithyll, I entered the main cathedral where my next test of patience was waiting for me. Pontiff Sulyvahn proved to be a challenge as he has a number of sweeping(almost graceful) attacks with greatswords, which sort of resembled dual-wielding a pair of lightsabers. Hell yeah. It took me a few attempts but I managed to finally claw my way to victory and the trophy to prove it.

Proudest Trophy Unlocked

Sekiro(Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice) – If you asked me at the beginning of 2022 whether or not I was gonna attempt a challenge as daunting as beating Sekiro, let alone getting the platinum trophy, I would have laughed at you. Well…through some strange sequence of events, I did just that. I had made a couple previous attempts to complete the game, but, for whatever reason, it wasn’t until this past August that the fast-paced, rhythmic combat FINALLY CLICKED for me. I managed to not only beat Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, but finished the game NEARLY FOUR TIMES on my way to what I’d consider my biggest achievement of 2022. I can easily call Sekiro my *other* favorite From Software game, right next to Bloodborne…

Regret *NOT* Getting

The Wasteland(Cyberpunk 2077) – I had played a few hours of Cyberpunk 2077 on PC right at the game’s launch in December 2020, but due to having plenty of other games on my plate at the moment I decided to shelf the Cyberpunk for the time being and focus on other things. The long-awaited next-gen update was released for the game this past February; the shipping for my copy of Horizon: Forbidden West had been delayed, so I decided to return to Night City, this time on the PS5. CD Projekt Red has done a remarkable job turning around what was an utter dumpster fire of a game launch for Cyberpunk, and the game is much, much closer to what the devs had first announced years ago. While the game is a VAST IMPROVEMENT, I was unfortunate enough to encounter a couple glitches during my playthrough. A bug that occurred while returning a stolen vehicle to a fixer’s garage prevented the mission from showing as completed, making it impossible to get the trophy for completing all side gigs in the Badlands. Of course, this was the final trophy I needed…one glitch away from another platinum trophy.

Platinum Trophies Acquired

Despite feeling like I didn’t accomplish much in 2022 other than a handful of FromSoft games, I did manage to acquire 14 more platinum trophies. I’ll acknowledge that roughly half of these are from indie games that took me anywhere from an hour to a few hours to grind out another platinum, but I’m also gonna point out that the three FromSoft platinums – Elden Ring, Bloodborne and Sekiro, accounted for just about 300 hours of PlayStation playtime this past year, so…

Here are the games in which I managed to grab those sweet, sweet platinum trophies:

• Donuts ‘n’ Justice
• My Name is Mayo
• Life if Strange: True Colors
• Tesla vs. Lovecraft
• My Name is Mayo 2
• The Last of Us Part II
• Elden Ring
• Bloodborne
• The Pizza Delivery Boy Who Saved The World
• Distraint
• Control
• My Name is Mayo 3
• Hoa
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Next Platinum Targeted in 2023

Dark Souls III – Despite my best efforts(well, not really), I’m STILL working my way through pretty much every modern From Software game. I started playing Dark Souls III about a month ago now and have been really enjoying it so far; the overall movement and combat is significantly less cumbersome than Dark Souls: Remastered and feels closer to Bloodborne, which was released the year prior to Dark Souls III. Hopefully the grind for covenant items isn’t *as* tedious as it can be for some as I’m aiming for the Dark Souls III platinum trophy in the beginning of 2023, if not, I *did* just so happen to express interest in another trophy hunt with Solarayo as she is planning to go after the platinum trophy in Dark Souls II…which I may regret?

Trophy Hunter Shoutout

Solarayo – Extremely Solid(Metal Gear Solid 2)

For those who follow Solarayo on her blog site – Ace Asunder(if you don’t, I recommend doing so), she emerged victorious last year in her long-running quest to get the elusive Metal Gear Solid 2 platinum trophy. This feat of patience and determination involved playing through the game numerous times AS WELL AS completing a literal shit ton of VR Missions, each with their own set of requirements. And she was worried about Dark Souls…go ahead, just ask her about the giant elephant boss!

Gaming Diaries – Master of Fate(Final Fantasy VII Remake)

Despite her humility, GD is quite the accomplished trophy hunter and has accumulated a number of trophies that I doubt I possess either the skill or patience for. One such trophy is ‘Master of Fate’, the platinum trophy for the Final Fantasy VII Remake. I’ve played through the FFVII Remake and have wanted to revisit the PS5 version and maybe, JUST MAYBE make an effort at the platinum trophy. The biggest hurdle from what I can tell is needing to play through the entire game on Hard difficulty. Yeah…I had a devil of a time defeating Hell House on normal difficulty, thanks.

I want to throw out a big THANK YOU to both Solarayo and GamingDiaries once again for agreeing to join me in this half-baked idea. I’ve been a little directionless lately in regards to blogging and hopefully this will help me to regain some lost momentum.

Here’s to a better year in 2023 and plenty more trophies ahead!

Trophy Hunters: Final Fantasy XV – Final Episode

I finally did it! It took me a bit longer than expected at 75 hours, but I finished unlocking every trophy in Final Fantasy XV. My last trophy progress post was about a month ago, so that prediction of “a week or two to get the rest of the trophies” was a little short-sighted. The remaining trophies were the ones requiring the longest amount of time to complete – 80 sidequests and maxing out the fishing, survial, cooking, and photography skills. Of course, had I played nothing other than FFXV I likely would have finished this sooner, but there were detours through Monster Hunter, Bugsnax, and Ratchet & Clank on my recent platinum trophy quest. Let’s see what took almost another 40 hours after seeing the end credits to finish up, shall we?

Angling Expert

• Reached maximum fishing level

This was the final trophy in my way to the platinum. I had finished everything else, so it was pretty relaxing to sit back and do some fishing. I decided to sit on the dock at the Vesperpool northwest of Lestallum, which usually contains plenty of fish, so levels 8-10 didn’t take long at all…

Photo Expert

• Reached maximum photography level

I had unlocked and leveled up Prompto’s Snapshot ability pretty early on in the game, which provided more pictures after every battle and made this the first(and probably easiest) of the party to reach skill level 10. After many hours of playing, I have an entire album of memories saved from the party’s adventures across Eos.

Cooking Expert

• Reached maximum cooking level

I may have reached level 10 in Ignis’ cooking skill a little sooner had I decided to set up camp more often, rather than staying at the various hotels across the land. I’d usually stop at one to save my progress and cash in any XP previously acquired. To cover the last couple skill levels unlock the Cooking Expert trophy, I only needed to spend a little while at my campsite cooking up batch after batch of ‘Mystery Meat Sushi’ from the many, many Luncheon Meats I had picked up in Lestallum.

Survival Expert

• Reached maximum survival level

This was probably the most annoying(and time-consuming) trophy to get. Gladiolus’ Survival skill is only raised by traveling on foot – not camping, items used or anything else, ONLY walking or running across the map. I ended up setting out on a trek from Lestallum in the northwestern corner of the map all the way down to Galdin Quay at the southeastern part of it, only to more or less repeat the process a couple times to FINALLY unlock the trophy. Compared to the other skills, this one takes forever. One of my favorite aspects of FFXV was being able to kick back with the boys and ride around Eos in the Regalia while listening to the music from a range of different FF games. However, the fact I had to travel nearly everywhere by foot to get this trophy is pretty disappointing. I had a lot of fun playing through the game, but this wasn’t exactly the most enjoyable part of the experience.

Weaving a Tapestry

• Completed 80 sidequests

I’d been chipping away at all the sidequests in the game since the early chapters, which made this a little bit easier considering how the game becomes incredibly linear once you reach chapter 8 or so. Once you complete the game you have the option to return to previous areas and finish up any sidequests or other activities. The majority of these were usually simple “item requisition requests” and didn’t take too long to complete(minus the time required to travel there on foot).

Regalia Pilot

• Flew the Regalia Type-F

Speaking of riding along in the Regalia…

Over the course of the game, you’re able to transform(upgrade?) the Regalia to different types. Type-D adds off-road capability with essentially monster truck tires and once you find the Strange Engine in one of the enemy bases, Cindy the mechanic will take your mode of transportation another step by allowing the Regalia to take to the skies with a Batwing-like form. The Regalia Pilot trophy is unlocked your first flight…which is good, considering how tricky it is to land the vehicle, failure to land safely results in your entire party being wiped out and being sent back to the last save point.

Faithful Heir

• Collected thirteen royal arms

Throughout the main storyline Noctis will venture through a number or crypts and caves, receive one of the thirteen royal arms at the end. You pick up five of them as you play through the main story, but will need to do some sidequests and go a little further off the beaten path to find the rest of them. The final royal arm I needed – the Sword of the Tall was located at the bottom of the Costlemark Tower. The underground “tower” was definitely a test of combat skill…and patience as the lower levels of the tower are a series of movable blocks acting as walls and floors(somewhat similar to Control’s Ashtray Maze) which must be navigated in a specific order before finally reaching a Jabberwock guarding the final royal arm needed for the Faithful Heir trophy…

Tortoise Toppler

• Defeated the adamantoise

A special quest that unlocks post-game finds Noctis and the gang investigating the area to find out what’s behind a series of recent earthquakes that have been terrifying the nearby population. Upon closer inspection, the earthquakes are being caused by the adamantoise – an enormous tortoise that is quite literally a mountain. Next up, battling the terranean terrapin…which just so happens to be Lvl 99. and have 5,000,000 HP. The battle against the adamantoise can be a lengthy one, depending on character level and equipment – I believe it took me around 40 or so minutes of hacking away before finally unlocking the Tortoise Toppler trophy. Cowabunga!

The World Wanderer

• Collected all trophies

I did it! Another platinum trophy to add to the collection…

I had a lot of fun playing through Final Fantasy XV. I know the game has gotten a lot of hate from others since its release, but I’m glad I played through it myself to form my own opinion. I think the way it was rolled out as a live-service model, along with an abrupt shift from open-world to linear corridors about halfway through the game made for some inconsistent pacing, but had a lot of fun nonetheless. It may have not been the “traditional” FF game many gamers wanted, but there’s still elements of greatness there among those rough edges.

So, that’s another trophy run completed. There are quite a few DLC packs containing plenty of additional trophies, but I’m satisfied in what I accomplished for the time being. Another quick shoutout to Solarayo from Ace Asunder who has been playing through FFXV alongside me and posting trophy updates, it’s always interesting to check in and see where others are in-game and what trophies they tackled first.

Thanks for reading!